LOS ALTOS HILLS — The City Council has picked Roger Spreen, a 19-year resident, to fill an empty seat on the dais until the November 2016 election.

The vacancy was created when Councilman Rich Larsen resigned to move his family to Carmel.

Spreen, who is chairman of the city’s Open Space Committee, holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue, and an MBA from UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, according to his application to fill the seat.

He has worked as a tech consultant, co-founded three tech firms, and served as an engineer and manager at Apple.

Spreen joined the Open Space Committee in 2003 and stayed with it, usually as chairman. In his candidate statement, he said, “What I could do was try to help corral the group’s energy and expertise, and to carve out a defined purpose for the committee that was truly a service to the town.”

His goal has been to “help the town maintain its character, and to educate others to appreciate and assist in this goal.”

One of the top issues in Los Altos Hills, according to Spreen, is maintaining a vision of what the city should be in the face of changing demographics, technology and lifestyles. Another is how the city should handle “so-called substandard properties” that don’t match its original acre-minimum lots.

Spreen, who was selected by the council on Tuesday, is to be sworn in at a special meeting on Oct. 14.